Microsoft had big news at Gamescom 2015 including an announcement for a Halo 5: Guardians e-sports tournament and an upcoming Halo Wars sequel.
Although Microsoft has removed the split screen feature in the upcoming Halo 5: Guardians, Microsoft has made an effort to enhance its multiplayer experience. Microsoft announced this morning at Gamescom that it would be making large advancements in the e-sports realm with a new “Halo World Championship”. It is expected to begin this upcoming winter and will give elite players the opportunity to compete for up to $1 Million in prizes. This is a huge step seeing as the prize previously was a measly $150,000 in their e-sports tournament.
Microsoft seems to be trying to expand its multiplayer realms by delving into the e-sports with this investment. Currently in Seattle, Dota 2 players are competing for a whopping $18 million, so Microsoft still has its work cut out. Halo 5: Guardians does look to be focused on the e-sports area given its spectator mode and revamped online play. By creating an online tournament with a large prize, they seem to be taking steps in the right direction.
Along with the announcement of an e-sports tournament, Microsoft also announced an upcoming franchise addition, Halo Wars 2. It will be a sequel to the strategy-based game, Halo Wars, that was released in 2009. There was a brief preview of the game played at the conference and the game was given a release date in the fall of 2016. There had been previous news of a job-posting at Microsoft for a position on a team that would work on an upcoming installment of a “beloved strategy game”. It is evident now that this is what Microsoft had teased many of its fans about back in January. Be on the lookout for the e-sports tournament in winter 2015 and the release of Halo Wars 2 in the fall of 2016.
